Thursday, March 19, 1998Last modified at 2:17 a.m. on Thursday, March 19, 1998

No caption was contained in the photo fileTwo suicides in month puzzling to jail officials

Keesee finds no easy answers to problem

By LANCE FLEMING

Avalanche-Journal

Two suicides within three weeks of each other at the Lubbock County Jail have Sheriff D.L. "Sonny" Keesee looking for answers to the problem.

The latest jail suicide came Monday when 40-year-old Daniel Mendoza Garcia was found unconscious in his isolation cell about 4:30 p.m. Keesee said Garcia choked himself to death between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. while jailers were on feeding rounds.

Last week, Garcia commandeered a Citibus in an aborted attempt to kidnap his 31/2-month-old son. Garcia was not on a suicide watch, Keesee said, because neither he nor his family gave any indication that he would try to kill himself. However, his actions on March 9 did make the jailers cautious in dealing with Garcia.

"I'm not sure what the definition of a 'normal' person is, but what he did in hijacking that bus is not something that happens every day," Keesee said. "Doing that made us question his mental state, and that's why we put him in a single cell."

And, just like every other prisoner, Garcia was checked by jailers every 30 to 60 minutes. But, Keesee said, that did not seem to matter.

"The thing I have the most trouble with is when someone has their mind made up to take their life," Keesee said. "It seems when that's the case that it's going to happen one way or another."

The suicides - the first coming approximately three weeks ago when an inmate hung himself - have left Keesee and others in the Sheriff's Office wondering what can be done differently.

"We met (Wednesday morning) for an hour, just talking about the situation and trying to figure out what we would do differently," Keesee said, "and we still don't have an answer."

One of the problems, Keesee said, is that the jail is not allowed to use surveillance equipment in the cellblocks.

"The best thing we could do is to keep an eye on all the prisoners all of the time," Keesee said. "But federal law says we can't invade their privacy in their cells. That means we can't put cameras in there, even though that would be the most logical answer."

Keesee said officers from the department's Criminal Investigations Division, as well as the Texas Rangers, were on the scene within one hour to investigate Garcia's suicide.

"I always want an outside agency that's credible to come in just in case we have something we've overlooked," Keesee said. "I want them to be able to tell us what we could have done differently."

Keesee said the CID report should be completed by Friday.

Garcia, who was charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping and in jail on a $150,000 bond, apparently took strips of his bed sheet and bath towel and tied them together to form a rope. He wrapped it around his neck "four or five times," Keesee said, and then pulled it tight.

The jailers on duty told Keesee that it appeared Garcia was asleep.

"They said it was like he just laid down," Keesee said. "He had his blanket up over him, and it just had every appearance that he was sleeping."